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Teaching spiritual practices should be a component of educational ministry

Christian education is not just about telling the stories of the Bible or delving into the meaning of a particular passage. It is not just about helping children to know they are included in the body of Christ or adults to understand the theology of the church. I believe it is also about helping each of us, whether eight or 80, to find our spiritual grounding.


Without a solid spiritual grounding, our faith wears thin. Without it, we find ourselves in a morass when it comes to decision-making. Without it, we are unable to persevere when the going gets tough — and it surely does. This spiritual grounding is made up of stories of the faith from the Bible and from tradition, the practice of stewardship, our participation in corporate worship, our involvement in service and mission and our daily use of spiritual practices. The latter is particularly important today. I believe that teaching about and doing spiritual practices is a necessary component of our educational ministry with children, youth and adults.

A number of years ago the slogan “The family that prays together stays together” was spread across our land. As slogans are, it was a bit simplistic. As slogans do, it held a bit of truth that we ought not ignore. Prayer is a spiritual practice that binds us together.

However, prayer is just one of many spiritual practices available to us. We Protestants are Jane-and-Johnny-come-lately to the development of spiritual practices or disciplines, but the time has surely come. Spiritual practices connect us with God, bind us to one another; and support us in the life of discipleship to which Jesus Christ calls us.

Four Spiritual Practices for Today

The spiritual practices that I would have us concentrate on at this moment in history are examen, fasting, hospitality and Sabbath. They can be exercised by families as well as individual persons, young and old. However, as Dorothy Bass and Craig Dykstra suggest in Practicing Our Faith (Jossey-Bass, 1997, pp. 201-2), prayer and Bible study undergird all other spiritual practices. Therefore, prayer and Bible study would be integrated into our personal and corporate life whatever spiritual practice we might be following.

Examen is the daily examination of our glimpses of God and our failures to notice God. Traditionally, examen is done at the end of the day. Two questions, which come in various forms, comprise this reflection on the day. One question focuses on the positive parts of the day, the parts when you were most aware of God’s presence or for which you want to thank God. The second question focuses on the parts of the day when you felt most separated from God, or those actions for which you wish to ask God’s forgiveness. Examen concludes with prayers of confession, thankfulness, and intercession. In education ministry, we ought not overlook the spiritual practice of examen as a way to come closer to God and to help persons understand the place of confession and assurance of pardon when we worship together.

Fasting, the practice of giving up something, is not confined to food, although in our overweight society, fasting from food cannot be overlooked. As consumers of far more than our share of the world’s resources, it is time that our educational ministry helped us look closely at our gods, the things we accumulate and store in bigger and bigger barns.

Our exploration of Jesus’ teachings about money and wealth ought to lead us to spiritual practices that take us away from the worship of things. Families can participate in fasting by turning off the television one night a week or giving up desserts or snacks one day each week. Fasting makes us more aware of what we really need as much as what we do not need. Surely, the education ministry has a role to play in bringing this awareness to us.

Hospitality is, in its simplest terms for Christians, finding the face of Jesus in all whom we meet. Through hospitality, we welcome all, not judging them, but accepting them as God’s children. Perhaps we practice it by inviting persons different from us into our homes to eat at our table. Perhaps we practice it by leaving our homes to visit residents in a care facility. Whatever we do, we remember the great banquet in Jesus’ parable.

Ought not the educational ministry focus on this spiritual practice as groups meet and live this hospitality together?

Sabbath is setting aside a time to acknowledge God as the one in whom we live and move and have our being. Observing a Sabbath is not about rules of what not to do, but focuses on what brings our lives more in line with the hope God has for all creation.

Generations past lived in a society governed by laws that restricted activities on Sunday.

A Sabbath time was easier to plan because many distractions today were not present. In the pace of our culture and the multiplicity of faiths, the church needs to help its members, and particularly families, find ways to set aside a Sabbath time. Together we need to learn what Sabbath is and why it is important for us as God’s people.

Practicing the Practices

Whatever spiritual practices we teach through Christian education, we also need to provide support for families and individual persons to continue those practices at home.

The faithful life is not lived only when we gather as a congregation or a study group. As we make use of the spiritual practices on a daily or weekly basis, we will grow in understanding and insight. The spiritual practices we develop individually and as families will enrich our worship life, our fellowship and our mission as congregations and as Christ’s church.

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Carol Wehrheim is a Christian educator, author and editor who lives in Princeton, N.J.

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